The Scales of Power
by Mary Sue Lover
Summary: When a certain human finds himself in a strange land, how will he deal with the difference between worlds? Will he find out how he got there? And what will he discover about himself as new ideas and truths are brought to light?
1. Chapter 1: Hysterical Beginnings

The Scales of Power

((Author's Note: Hello, all. I'm not sure why, but I've decided to peek my head into the world of fanfiction-_writing_, as well as reading. Bear with me, as this is my first time trying to write a real story. Heck, this is mostly experimental, so I may not even end up updating often, if at all (which is messed up considering how much I HATE seeing that, myself). I just want to see people's reactions to this first chapter, and my writing style. I know of some of my idiosyncrasies (preoccupation with ocular expression, issues with punctuation at the end of quotations, and excessive fondness for the idea of the subconscious), but I want to see how much they actually bother people, as well as see if there are any I didn't know about. Oh, and typos are fine to point out, too.))

**Hysterical Beginnings**

"Ughh... thpew thpew-thpew!"

This, unfortunately, is how a tale of epic proportions began for one man: waking up to a mouth full of dirt and grit. Finally clearing his mouth of such unpleasantness, he looked blearily around, still half asleep and mostly wondering how the dirt got there.

The sight that greeted him was... odd, on several levels. First, there was the fact that he seemed to be lying prone on an old-fashioned dirt road that he didn't recognize at all. It was long and winding, and he couldn't see anything of note in either direction along it, other than some unusually steep, faraway mountains (that he also didn't recognize) shrouded in clouds behind him. On either side of the glorified path were rolling hills of vivid green grass that waved in the light breeze as it soaked in the sunlight. Off in the distance, he could just make out some forests as well.

Now, he had never bothered with things like drugs or alcohol, and he never really liked going out to parties and such, so he was more than a little confused about how he could have ended up... wherever he was, without any memory of how he got there. After, all, he couldn't have gotten drunk, or been drugged, and he was pretty sure that he didn't have any sort of obscure medical condition that could explain his current circumstances. Last thing he remembered, he was just reading a book at home!

Sighing in frustration (and, though he would hate to admit it, mounting panic), he attempted to turn his thoughts to the less obvious thing that struck him as odd; everything just looked... _weird_. The colors of his surroundings were too vivid, too solid. And whenever he tried to focus his eyes to see more detail in things, whether far or near, his head would throb. Honestly, it was almost enough to make him think he HAD been somehow drugged.

Finally sitting up, he looked down at his lap, and was further disturbed by this abstract visual strangeness when he got a glimpse of his own limbs. Nothing dramatic had changed in them- they retained their original shapes and everything, thank goodness -but they had that same unusual _smoothness_ to them. In fact, even when he forced himself to focus despite the mounting headache, he could no longer see or otherwise sense the presence of his body hair, or even the intricate lines, wrinkles, fingerprints, pores, and moles that were supposed to adorn ANYONE'S entire BODY.

Confused and somewhat frightened at not knowing where he was, and fearing that something was wrong with his eyes or, God forbid, his _mind_, he started to hyperventilate.

"Wh-where am I? What's wrong with me?" he whispered to himself, as if expecting an answer to be forthcoming.

He shook himself, and did his best to shove his fear to the back of his mind for the time being. It was as he was taking several deep breaths, to help calm his racing heart, that he heard something from far behind him.

Turning around, he thought he caught a glimpse of something... landing?... on the other side of the hill that the road he was on went over. Frozen with indecision on whether to investigate, possibly getting some much-needed help from a friendly stranger, or stay where he was, giving himself a few more minutes to calm himself and remember (or at least think about) what was going on, the matter was quickly settled for him when a figure crested the hill.

When he was able to make out what the figure appeared to be, what little calm and confidence in his ability to handle his situation left him immediately.

'Is that... a pygmy, purple _unicorn_?'

((Unicorn 3rd Pony POV))

Twilight Sparkle was feeling miffed. Scratch that, she was downright _irritated_. Her entire life, she had been a diligent and successful student and apprentice to her teacher, and her teacher had been just as good to her. She had never intimated that any of her questions were stupid or silly, and had even consulted with her on a number of occasions on important official matters. But today, of ALL days, her concerns had seemingly been cast aside by her royal highness, Princess Celestia.

Twilight had always been an academic, of sorts; she **needed** to know how things worked, whether magical or mundane. And though she knew that she had more of an interest in magical subjects, that didn't mean that she neglected her studies in others. It was just recently that she started to get herself more into folklore and myths. Reading them, she would always try to think of explanations for what happened in them, or, barring that, using the knowledge she had to conclusively determine the falsity and/or impossibility of them.

Things became a bit more serious when she happened upon the story of the Mare in the Moon. As she read more and more about it, she found that this was NOT one of those stories that she could immediately debunk, and when she discreetly mentioned it in passing to the Princess, her momentary serious, sad look had only increased her certainty; the story was true. There was once a being more powerful than Celestia- the Princess's sister, no less -who had almost taken over the kingdom and plunged it into eternal night.

If she were honest with herself, Twilight would admit to being frightened by this. The feeling only increased when she did some calculations from the dates and information she was able to extrapolate from the story, finding that Night Mare Moon would be returning within days! However, when she voiced her concerns in a letter penned by her faithful dragon assistant, Spike, they were waved away even as the Princess admonished her for secluding herself with her books. She even went so far as to send her on a royally official mission to help organize the Summer Sun Celebration in some obscure town and make herself some friends.

Emerging from her thoughts, Twilight sighed. She understood that the Princess wanted her to be happy, and she had read enough on pony psychology to know that friendship was important, but this was hardly the time! For Celestia's sake, if she was right, Equestria was about to be revisited by one of its darkest, in more ways than one, and most powerful enemies of all time!

"Oh, come on Twilight, cheer up!" Spike said, turning from the rushing scenery of the land far below and noticing her despondent state. "We're going to help with a celebration; it'll be fun! And if it makes you feel any better, we'll be staying at a library."

"Spike, the fate of Equestria is at stake, and I've been sent out to do busy work and 'make friends'." she responded, using a slightly mocking tone for the last part. "Since the Princess won't listen to me, I have to do something, but I don't know if I can without the informational resources of the Royal Equestrian Library!" She sighed again, shaking her head at her seemingly hopeless situation.

Spike still didn't know if he believed her, but whether or not she was right, he hated to see her so upset. Unfortunately, he couldn't really think of anything else to say to her, so he just patted her side as the royal pegasi pulling their carriage through the air started to bring it down for a landing a ways away from Ponyville. Twilight just flashed him a brief smile of thanks before reverting to her troubled look and preparing to exit the carriage.

Stepping down from their transport, Twilight (somewhat absentmindedly) thanked the pegasi who brought Spike and herself this far; it wasn't their fault that she had to go on this silly errand Princess Celestia had thought up. Waving as they flew off back toward Canterlot, which was currently hidden by the clouds, she turned around to start her short trek to Ponyville.

"Don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure that everything will be fine. And you might even make some friends here after..." Spike trailed off at Twilight's annoyed look. "Well, I'm sure that things will get better. So come on, just try to enjoy yourself. Please?"

Feeling somewhat exasperated, she nodded, if only to placate him. She had basically raised him, after all, so just as a mother wouldn't want her foals to be burdened with her adult problems, she didn't want Spike to be troubled because he saw her being troubled.

Cresting the hill they had been climbing on the path, it took Twilight a couple moments to notice something sprawled on the path ahead. Slowing down to a slow trot, she looked at it, and she honestly couldn't tell WHAT it was, though she did notice that it was staring at her. A battle ensued between her inquisitive nature and her determination to get things done quickly so she could try to save the kingdom; it took a few seconds, but her duty to save everyone eventually came out on top, as much as it caused her inner scholar cry, and she decided that she would have to just pass it by.

((Human 3rd Person POV))

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. There, walking down the hill, straight towards him, was what looked like a miniature purple unicorn. It had a lavender-ish sort of coat, and a dark blue mane and tail, both of which had one pink and one darker purple streak going through them. It had extremely large eyes, kind of like a human's, only a bit more cartoonish, that matched her dark purple streak, and that he could somehow _see_ the intelligence in. Its four legs seemed to just end in flat stumps, with no hooves to speak of. The most notable feature (other than the startlingly intelligent eyes), though, was its short purple horn, sticking out from under a part of its mane that hung over its forehead like bangs.

'I've cracked. I must have cracked.' he thought. However, even in his shock, the at-times-irritating logical part of his mind scoffed and laid things out for him. 'We can't rule out completely that this is all a hallucination of some kind,' it said, 'but this is far too random to be a probable product of our mind. We never would have thought this up in a millions years; we're not that creative. Whether we're crazy, dreaming, or something more fantastical has happened, it remains true that we have to try to operate as best we can according to and within whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.'

All of this passed through his mind in an instant, and his subconscious conclusions did little to comfort him, though they did at least keep him from completely freaking out and fainting, or something like that.

As it came closer to him, he started to panic. He could see that it was more than a bit curious about him, but by the angle it was walking at, it seemed that it was going to pass him by. Just as it came up alongside him and was about to continue on, he took a shot in the dark based on what he saw in its eyes and desperately declared, somewhat louder than strictly necessary, "U-um, excuse me!"

((Twilight 3rd Pony POV))

Twilight stopped. Again she struggled with herself, but this time her inner scholar had back-up: compassion. Even with her limited social skills, Twilight could recognize the fear and desperation in the... creature's voice. She sighed, frustrated with herself for allowing herself to be sidetracked from her more important self-appointed mission of saving the world, but turned to face the creature, nonetheless.

"Yes?" she said. "Can we help you?"

The creature looked confused for a moment, until it noticed Spike and its eyes widened. Seeming to shake itself out of its thoughts, it turned back to Twilight. "Um, yes." it said. "Could you... possibly tell me where I am?" It really did look lost as it asked that.

Twilight was confused at that request, but answered all the same. "You're just outside of Ponyville," she said, before elaborating a bit, "just a couple hours southwest of Canterlot, as the pegasus flies."

"Oh." it said. Strangely, its shoulders seemed to slump, and its voice sounded even more lost and heavy than before as it continued. "Thank you for telling me. I really appreciate it." it gave its polite thanks with an extremely forced smile, the look in its eyes not having improved at all.

Twilight nodded and started to walk away, figuring that her little bit of help was enough to sate her need to help others in this case. However, when she glanced back, she saw him- she figured that it was probably male, based on its voice -sitting in the same spot, sort of staring into space, still wearing that strained smile, though it had slackened slightly and seemed to waver.

Feeling a pull at her usually book- and information-encrusted heartstrings, she stopped once more and walked back towards him. Spike asked her what was up, but she just shushed him as she approached the poor creature.

Standing in front of him for a moment, she finally got up the courage to speak.

"Hi. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?" she asked with as pleasant a smile as she could muster. She felt pretty awkward and unsure, but she couldn't help but feel that the poor thing needed some help, and she wanted to give it to him if she could.

((Human 3rd Person POV))

Throughout their entire exchange he was having trouble believing that he was talking to what was apparently a unicorn. Luckily, his logical side had finally gotten through to him, and he was able to at least not make a fool of himself. He was even able to feel incredibly fortunate, deep down, about the stroke of luck that was their having the same spoken language. The purple, yellow, and green lizard had thrown him for a bit of a loop, but that wasn't nearly as odd as the pygmy purple unicorn, so he got over it quickly.

After he had gotten his answer from the unicorn, he had felt even more crushed than before. He had been hoping that, _somehow_, he may have heard of wherever he was, so he at least wouldn't be in a completely alien, unfamiliar world. Even as troubled as he was, he didn't want to burden the creature that was kind enough to talk to a _thing_ that it, as far as he could tell from its expression when it first saw him, had never seen the like of him before, and so didn't know whether he was even safe. So he did his best to smile as he thanked it as politely and sincerely as he could...

Unfortunately, it became apparent to him that he didn't do a very good job at it, since it came back with concern clear as day upon its face, suddenly introducing itself to him. He sighed mentally, once again reminded that he's not always as good at hiding his feelings as he usually is.

"Hello Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Eddie." he said in response to her (he decided to think of it as a her, since its voice seemed pretty feminine, and he felt it was both troublesome and rude to think of this kind creature as a mere 'it'), subconsciously amused at himself for trying to only be known by his nickname even in a situation like this. He smiled; for some reason it made him feel a little better, talking to someone friendly when he WASN'T desperately fishing for information.

((General 3rd Creature POV))

Twilight shifted from side to side, unsure of what to say or do next. Eddie was no better, glancing everywhere but at her face, being both inept at starting conversations in general and being worried that anything he said or did could coincidentally be taken as rude or bad by Twilight, since she was an entirely different species, with possibly entirely different body language cues and customs. It seemed that two socially inept beings were trying to interact, and, surprise, it wasn't going very smoothly.

"Ummm... so, Twilight Sparkle, huh? That's a very pretty name. I haven't heard of many people with names that had immediate meaning." Eddie finally commented, that being the first non-heavy topic of interest that came to mind.

Twilight smiled at the compliment, though she gave him a slight look of confusion. "Thanks. I like your name, too. But having a name like mine, with a meaning, as you put it, is pretty normal. Yours is the same, isn't it? Eddy; a swirling of air, water, or anything that moves fluidly, right? And what did you mean when you said, 'peepull'? What are peepull?" she asked, the floodgate of curiosity having been opened somewhat with his ice-breaking compliment.

"Uhhh..." he started, a little nervous at the sudden shift in energy and expression that Twilight had gone through in just a couple seconds. "Thanks. Really? That's normal here? That's kind of nice, actually... But no, my name is spelled E-D-D-I-E; it's short for my proper first name, Edward, which I really don't like too much, so please disregard it. As for people... I don't know; it kind of just refers to anybody, or at least it did where I'm from. Um, humans, I guess. That's what I am, I mean..."

She made note of his saying that what he wanted to be called was short for only his _first_ name, but otherwise decided to leave that matter for later. Her eyes were already alight with interest, which only grew brighter with each answer. "'Anybody'..." she mused. "I guess that's the same as 'anypony', then, based on how you used it. But anyway, does your name really not mean anything? It must mean _something_. But you're called a 'hyoomin', huh? What are they like, then?" she continued eagerly.

When he made to move back a bit, as her enthusiasm had brought her into his personal space, he realized that he had still been sitting on that dirt road for their whole conversation. He chuckled at himself for being so absent-minded, but figured it wasn't too embarrassing, considering what he's still dealing with. Bracing himself, he stood up and stretched. Twilight's eyes widened at that, with a single thought running through her head: 'Tall...'. The top of her head came up to just about a quarter of the way up his ribcage.

Spike just thought the thing looked pretty cool standing up, instead of slumped down on the ground with a gloomy expression like before.

"Ha, sorry, but as nice a prospect as it is to try to exchange all the knowledge of two sentient species in one conversation, do you think we can continue somewhere other than on this particular patch of dirt road?" he requested with a wry look on his face.

Twilight actually blushed at that, embarrassed and a little ashamed that she had been so unmindful of his comfort even though she came back out of concern for his well-being. She really had to rein in her thirst for knowledge, but it was always a struggle; and one that she often lost, to her chagrin.

"Hehehe..." she laughed nervously. "Sorry about that. Why don't you walk with me? We can talk more on the way, if you'd like."

She turned around and started to walk along the road, adopting a worried expression. Being broken out of her question-spree had reminded her of the crisis she had yet to figure out a way to avert. The thought that Eddie might be somehow involved briefly crossed her mind, but was almost instantly discarded; she had seen no mention of something like him ANYWHERE, let alone in any of the books concerning Night Mare Moon and her return.

Eddie followed after her, not really trying to catch up just yet. Now that he had calmed down and been reassured by meeting some— pony? —friendly who could help him, he was able to notice something even _more_ subtle than whatever was going on with how things looked: he felt _good_. No… that wasn't quite right, though it was indirectly true. The sun was shining, the air was crisp and clean, and it just felt like all was right with the world. Like the world itself was inherently _good_, in every sense of the word. And if it hadn't been making him feel so at peace, he probably would have been disturbed by it (and maybe even give MORE credence to the "being drugged" theory). After all, he had hardly been a very "chipper" person, at least on the inside, at any prior point in his life.

Coming back to his senses, Eddie realized that he had been walking with Twilight for a few minutes now, and neither of them had said anything. That big lizard of hers had even fallen asleep on her back, and seemed to be sunbathing as it slept. 'Maybe lizards are cold-blooded here, too.' he thought absently. Speeding up, Eddie came up alongside Twilight, finally seeing her troubled expression before he could try to restart their previous casual, but animated, conversation. Instead, he immediately asked her what was wrong.

Twilight started, being jerked out of her somewhat self-pitying musings. Looking over at the source of the disruption, she found Eddie looking at her with concern, which kind of surprised her, considering that he still seemed to have his own immediate troubles to deal with.

"Huh?" she said. "Oh, it's nothing, really…" she started. However, as Eddie continued to just look at her with concern, she couldn't hold back. With both the Princess _and_ Spike not taking her seriously, she NEEDED someone to listen to her worries, even if they were a total stranger.

And so she told him. Night Mare Moon, the mysterious Elements of Harmony, the prophecies; she told him everything. Eddie just stayed silent through her rant. He could tell easily enough that she needed to get this off her chest. Even so, he had to struggle to take all of the information in and not ask any questions, despite not having any of the basic background knowledge that would have made it easier to understand. He was able to pick up enough to have a better grasp of where he was, though. He seemed to be in another world entirely. There was such a thing as magic here, and the dominant, ruling species was called, and closely resembled ('Kind of…" he thought), ponies. The way Twilight Sparkle had talked about Princess Celestia made it seem that she was the ruler, as well as the Sun Goddess, of this land—apparently called "Equestria" –which made Eddie wonder why she wasn't a queen. 'Well,' he thought, 'there was that anybody-anypony word difference; maybe the word "princess" has the meaning of the word "queen", here.' As important as all this information was, though, Eddie was focused on Twilight and how truly frightened she seemed.

Finally, after about a half hour of talking, Twilight was done. The two had stopped and drifted to the side of the road to sit on the grass as soon as she had started her emotional explanation, and now they just sat in silence.

After a couple moments, Eddie hesitantly raised his hand and placed it on her back, hoping to provide some small comfort.

"You've certainly placed a big responsibility on your shoulders, Twilight Sparkle. An entire world's worth." he stated. She seemed to slump a bit at that. "However," he started again, causing her ears to perk forward, "I think you might be able to handle it." He said that with a small smile, not deterred by the face full of doubt that she displayed.

"I may not know anything about anything in this world, but from what you told me you have quite a bit going for you. You've been taught by possibly the most powerful figure of all, your own magical power and skill are not inconsiderable, and you actually know what's going to happen. And… it may not be much," he started uncertainly, "but I'd like to offer my help. Even now you're helping me by being so kind and forthcoming with the information I need to understand this place, and I'd like to repay that. That is, if you'll let me." Done making his plea, Eddie looked at Twilight with a mixture of apprehension and hopeful determination.

Twilight was stunned. This creature had just been dumped into her land, not knowing anything about it, and here he was offering to help her try to essentially save the world. It was overwhelming: a reclusive unicorn liker her being confronted with somepony wanting to just stick around and help her. Still, she needed the help, and on some level she did greatly appreciate his kindness, so, after a moment, she gave him a warm smile and nodded.

Eddie was greatly relived when he saw that she had accepted his offer. He wouldn't lie to himself; he hoped she was wrong. However, waking up in a world apparently ruled by talking ponies made him decide to give doomsday scenarios as much of a chance as anything else. Noticing the hint of nervousness she had let slip into her smile, he remembered how uncomfortable he used to occasionally (and sometimes still did) get when someone was being really nice to him, as well as her reluctance to make friends during this time of crisis. He quickly tried to assure her that he wasn't pushing anything on her.

"Oh!" he said in a rush, seeming somewhat flustered as he tried to search for the right words. "Um, you don't have to worry about being my friend or anything, okay? You're right: friendship is important, but keeping this world safe from disaster is more so. You're helping me and I'm helping you; you don't need to worry yourself over anything else, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight felt a bit better after hearing Eddie say that, and offered up a more heartfelt, genuine smile in response. She was puzzled as to why she also felt a little hurt, but decided not to pursue it. Instead, she stood up and started walking down the road again, gesturing for Eddie to follow her. Suddenly, she turned around.

"Call me Twilight."

((So, there's the first chapter. Again, I'd just like to hear people's thoughts. Yes, it is a Human-in-Equestria story, but I like those, so there. *crosses arms and looks away*))


	2. Chapter 2: Odd Introductions

((Author's Note: Hello, all. Same as before, I want to hear what people think. Good things, bad things, annoying things, etc.. Are some of my idiosyncratic writing quirks too distracting in the story? Do I make the characters spell things out too much? Are the characters written different enough to be satisfactorily distinguishable? Stuff like that.))

((Author's Note 2: I have even less general time and access to a computer and that won't change for quite a while, so try not to expect too much from me. Adding things on in a piece-meal basis like this is probably the only way that this story is going to get updated for now, so try not to discount an alert that the story has been updated when you see that there isn't actually a new chapter up. Other than that, same as the first Author's Note: feedback! I honestly don't even care if it's in the form of reviews or PMs, but I want to know how I can improve this story.))

((Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any affiliated properties.))

**Chapter 2: Odd Introductions**

After a minute or two of walking, Eddie and Twilight were able to start talking normally again. Despite Twilight's boundless curiosity, they ended up mostly talking about Equestria, seeing as Eddie would need all the information he could get if he wanted to get by there, not to mention be helpful in the quest to prevent Night Mare Moon's return (or, failing that, defeat her).

During this crash course on the culture and history of Equestria, Eddie did his best to not only absorb the information, but also to read between the lines so he could try to understand the more basic things; things so fundamental to Twilight's society that even _she_ would never think, or be able, to put them into words. What he was able to glean was interesting to say the least. This world seemed almost… picturesque. Never once during her lectures did she mention historical figures, specific or general, being killed. Not even during the "darker" moments in history, like the advent of Night Mare Moon, the story of Heart's Warming Eve, or the reign of the dreaded Discord. And it didn't seem like she was simply avoiding death for their mutual comfort, either; her face and voice were clear and accepting for every word. That meant that either she was unaware of the ugly parts of her world, which seemed unlikely considering how much of an… everything-buff she seemed to be, or this world simply didn't have them. Eddie could hardly begin to believe such a thing, and the only reasons he even considered the possibility were (once again) that he seemed to be in a different world, where anything might be possible, and that he was even-now experiencing that strange feeling of benevolence that seemed to permeate the land.

At one point, Twilight mentioned something called a "cutie mark", and it just sounded so ridiculously… well, cutesy, that Eddie couldn't help but giggle.

"What's so funny?" she asked with an irritated glance. Eddie was silenced as he was immediately reminded of a teacher whose lecture had been interrupted by a troublesome student, but the thought of _that_ only made him start to laugh harder.

Twilight was full-on glaring at him now. "I _said_, what the hay is so funny?" she said in a more severe tone of voice. Eddie, having somehow become a giggling mess, almost lost it when he heard her use the word "hay" in place of an expletive, but managed to control himself with a great deal of effort.

"Haha, sorry." he finally replied, not really sounding sorry at all. "But what on earth is a "cutie mark"? It just sounded so cutesy that I couldn't help but laugh!" he asked, failing to cover up another giggle.

Forcing herself not to smile in amusement at his silliness, Twilight did her best to just explain what they were.

"Cutie marks are basically what let us know what we're meant to do in our lives. Everypony is born with a blank flank, but eventually, usually before the teen years and after trying a lot of different activities, we experience a moment of clarity, realizing what our special talent is. When that happens, a symbol that represents that talent magically appears on each side of our flank." With that, she stopped for a moment and turned her backside toward him, gesturing at her own cutie mark. Eddie was surprised that he hadn't noticed it before. "Mine represents my talent with magic in general, and it appeared when I finally managed to push past my difficulties with magically hatching Spike, here, during my magic school entrance exam." she finished.

Despite his amusement with the term, Eddie was impressed by these "cutie marks", and said as much.

"That's actually really cool." he said. "You ponies are able to know for sure what your calling in life is by simply looking at your flanks; my species doesn't have anything like that. We have to just wander through life without any certainty that we're doing what we're _meant_ to do, if that even means anything…" he trailed off, looking a bit down.

Spike, who had woken up when Eddie started laughing (but decided to stay quiet and watch him irritate Twilight into a better mood), decided to pipe in at that moment.

"Don't worry." he exclaimed cheerfully. "There are plenty of other creatures in Equestria that don't get anything like a cutie mark; dragons, like me, being one of them."

Eddie jumped, this being the first time he heard Spike talk, but tried to recover quickly.

"Um, thank you?" he tried. Spike just chuckled and belatedly introduced himself, joking at how Eddie didn't seem to expect him to talk.

"Well, no, I didn't." he replied honestly. "In my world, my species is the only one with true sentience and language."

As shocked as Spike and Twilight were by that casual statement (though Spike only understood it from context), they weren't given a chance to respond as they crested a hill on the road, and Eddie froze.

Only a couple minutes walk ahead, there lay a simple, pleasant-looking little town. The niceness of the town was lost on Eddie, however, as it immediately reminded him that he would have to walk among other pon**ies**; plural. And THAT brought to his shy, paranoid mind just how strange he apparently was in this world, as Twilight's first look at him attested. He'd almost certainly be the center of attention as soon as he was spotted... and possibly non-welcoming attention, too. He could barely handle crowds or significant attention - good OR bad – in his _own_ world, let alone in _this_one, so soon after appearing. Twilight's presence and, oddly enough, having a distinct goal to work toward (help Twilight save the world), had calmed him down a lot, but he wasn't sure he could deal with the stress of being seen as a monster or even a mere intense point of interest by an entire town at this point. Just the thought had him working to keep from breathing faster.

"Um, Twilight?" he said in a small, faint voice that immediately caught the unicorn's attention. "You said you know a lot of magic, right?" she nodded. "The, is there any way you could... hide me? You seemed to accept me just fine, but I'm worried that this town's ponies won't be quite as accepting..."

Twilight thought. His fear was pretty valid; she knew that the average pony was pretty skittish. And that was often especially true in small towns, where virtually nothing ever changed, making anything dramatic or new a very big deal. She knew that Eddie would have to face such things eventually, but he _did_ just wake up here about an hour ago, so rushing it would be both cruel and stupid; he deserved a break. 'Besides,' she thought, slightly guilty at it factoring into her decision, 'dealing with the townsponies' reactions to him would just make our – MY mission harder.' She nodded to herself.

"Of course!" she said warmly, trying to make up for her somewhat cold, calculating thoughts. "I know just the spell. It's pretty complicated, but not too daring, so I can keep it cast on you for as long as we need, IF you don't get too far away from me, that is. It's invisibility, simple as that." she finished, a hint of natural pride seeping into her voice.

Eddie's face showed that he was both very relieved and quite impressed, and Twilight basked in the unspoken praise, nodding graciously when Eddie thanked her.

"Now, we're likely to run into some ponies even on the outskirts of town, so I'll go ahead and do the spell now. Just remember not to make too much noise, avoid ponies in your path, and walk on the more solid parts of the ground – wouldn't want anypony to see your footprints appearing out of nowhere, after all. Got it?"

Eddie nodded nervously, hoping he'd be able to juggle all that, and that being ensorcelled wouldn't be too uncomfortable.

Walking back down the hill so the town wouldn't see the light of the magic being cast, Twilight prepared the spell, closing her eyes in concentration as her horn started to glow. It glowed brighter and brighter as a similar magical aura encapsulated Eddie, his eyes wide as it merely caused him a pleasant, warm, tingling sensation. As the seconds passed, Eddie's form started to fade out until he was no longer visible at all. With the effect in place, Twilight finally relaxed, a slightly tired – but satisfied – smile on her face. "And there we go!" she exclaimed happily, eyes darting around as she looked for any trace of him.

"That was amazing!" Eddie said from right beside her, making her jump a bit. "Ha, sorry. But that was so cool! Not only did it work, but the magic felt totally fine, too. Nice, even. But yeah, um, do you want me to keep a hand on your shoulder so you know where I am?" he asked.

Twilight chuckled. "Sure, that should be fine. Spike, if he gets more than ten feet away could you sniff him out and guide me towards him? I don't want him to get out of range for the spell."

"You got it, Twilight." Spike replied with a salute, clearly enjoying the whole situation. Twilight just rolled her eyes as Eddie smiled invisibly.

Finally, the three started walking down the other side of the hill toward Ponyville, as Twilight started to once again grumble under her breath about Princess Celestia's secondary mission: making friends.

Not wanting her to get all sullen and grumpy again, Spike tried to convince her that it wouldn't be so bad. "It's a whole new town!" he said. "Full of new ponies with new ideas. Come on, just try talking to somepony; who knows what sorts of interesting things they'll have to say!"

As they entered the town-proper, Twilight finally gave in to his badgering, walking up to a startlingly pink pony with a darker pink, curly mane and three balloons as a for a cutie mark.

"Hello!" she began with forced cheer. As the pink pony turned towards the three, her left eyebrow twitched and she wore a confused expression for the briefest of moments before she saw Twilight and Spike, whereupon she immediately leapt into the air with and exaggerated gasp and zipped away.

Eddie's unseen face was blank, before he let slip a simple "'kay.", not sure what else to say about it.

Though Twilight agreed with his sentiment, she wasn't quite as weirded out, and so was able to reply to Spike's earlier comment with a bit of sarcasm.

"Yeah, "interesting things to say". That was absolutely riveting."

Spike would have made a retort, but even he had to admit that that was not the best (or the most normal) start to their time in town.

Walking mostly along the edge of Ponyville for a while, they eventually came to another dirt road ('Maybe ALL roads are dirt, here…' Eddie thought.) with a sign hanging above it. "Sweet Apple Acres," it declared. Twilight led them down the road, remembering that the town's farm was supposed to be handling the refreshments for the Summer Sun Celebration. Spike riding on her back, Eddie just followed with his hand on her shoulder, wondering if this next encounter would be as odd as their first.

They reached the farm pretty quickly, though as they crested each small rise on the road they were amazed by the sheer size of the apple orchards. The first pony they saw had a burnt orange coat and a blonde mane done up in a giant braid, who was wearing what looked like a cowboy hat. As they approached the pony, it kicked an apple tree with its hind legs, causing all of its fruit to fall perfectly into the buckets laid out beneath it. Eddie, surprised at the neatness of it, glanced toward Twilight, but saw that she wasn't fazed at all. 'Okay,' Eddie thought, 'ponies are either absolute geniuses when it comes to on-the-spot spatial reasoning calculations – and no offense to them, but I seriously doubt that; Twilight seems exceptionally intelligent, but not THAT intelligent – or there is some kind of incidental magic that lets things like that just work out.' Eddie grinned at the second possibility. 'Very nice. Some magic that's simple and not too flashy; just _really_ convenient.'

Twilight started to introduce herself to the pony, but before she could explain the reason for her presence, the orange pony shook hooves – though Eddie, for the life of him, couldn't figure HOW – with her, responding with her own… _enthusiastic_, greeting.

"Howdy there!" she said in a cheery southern accent ('…Not gonna bother thinking on THAT one.' Eddie thought.). "Good ta see some new faces around these parts. The name's Applejack, and this here is Sweet Apple Acres; the Apple family farm. What can Ah do ya fer?". The whole time she spoke, she never stopped shaking Twilight's hoof.

Finally able to get her hoof back, Twilight took a moment; that was one vigorous hoofshake! Impossibly, Eddie could _still_ feel the vibrations from it going through Twilight and into his hand on her shoulder. After regaining her composure, Twilight answered the friendly pony. "I'm actually here to check on the status of food preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration. I was told that this farm was in charge of that?"

Eddie felt that it didn't bode very well for them when that half-question seemed to make the mare even more cheery than before.

"That so?" Well then, yer just in tahm ta try it out; it's tahm ta eat!" Applejack exclaimed with a grin. Dashing over to a rusty old triangle, she rang it loudly, yelling: "SOOOUPS ON, EVERYPONY!".

Almost instantly, a veritable stampede of ponies of every shape, size, color, and age came along and hustled them to a picnic table. Eddie was quite hard-pressed to keep them from bumping into him, being forced to let go of Twilight's shoulder to avoid being discovered. Meanwhile, Twilight was starting to wish that she had made _herself_ invisible, too…

After unceremoniously shoving Twilight into a spot at a picnic table, Applejack started her "presentation" of all the various foods and family members (most of the ponies seemed to share names with apple-related things, so Eddie was quite confused as to when a food or a pony was being introduced) that were available. The list went on and on, and Eddie could have sworn that there were a few repeats, with how quickly Applejack was talking.

Once it was all listed out by her – all in one breath, too, it seemed, impressively enough – there was a lull as the whole Apple family looked at Twilight with happy expectation.

Her head spinning from the sheer number of apple-dishes ('I didn't think there _were_ that many!' she thought exhaustedly), Twilight's spine stiffened when she felt all that attention intently focused on her. She started to sweat. Eddie, after several minutes of slow, careful maneuvers through the crowd (which involved a lot of weird poses he was beyond grateful that nopony could see), he made it back to Twilight's side and, seeing her distress, put a comforting hand back in its proper place.

It may have been because she was still frozen from the ponies' stares, but Twilight somehow managed to not jump when something softly touched her shoulder. Realizing what it was, she actually calmed down quite a bit. 'Guess I was more worried about him being discovered than I thought.' she figured, taking advantage of her newfound poise by forming a half-decent response.

"Um… well!" she started nervously. "It looks like you have the food situation well in hoof. I'd best be going, then; lots of other preparations to check on." With that, Twilight made to turn and leave, but was interrupted.

"Aren'tcha gonna stay fer brunch?" a little yellow filly with a red mane and a big red bow asked in a sad, pleading tone.

'Oh, come on! That's not even fair! That voice and look PLUS a perfect puppy-dog-eyes expression? Ugh. I may actually have a harder time telling when children are being manipulative, here…' Eddie grumbled mentally, trying to not let the cuteness affect him too much.

Meanwhile, Twilight couldn't look away from the little pony's – Applebloom, she vaguely remembered from the pony/food-naming procession – adorable face. "Wellll…" Twilight said, drawing out the word as she felt her resolve weakening.

Faced with the ever-eager, beseeching faces of everypony there, she gave in with a frustrated sigh and an irritated "Fine.", which the Apple family either didn't notice or weren't bothered by. Far from it, seeing as they literally cheered at her affirmative. 'Okay, their enthusiasm is starting to seem a little silly, now.' Eddie noted.

And so all those apple dishes were put to use. Each of the ponies there practically crammed their associated food into Twilight's mouth, and she was starting to get quite full, even with Spike helping. Thankfully, a little relief came in the form of Eddie's invisible hand grabbing her hoof, gesturing for her to slip some of the dishes under the table. Giving a minute, but grateful nod that she assumed he could see, she snuck a few plates down when nopony was looking, figuring that Eddie must be pretty hungry, himself.

Eddie had to hand it to these ponies; over-eager or no, they have some _mean_ apple recipes. All the food was just great! Admittedly, he could have done with a little more _variety_ (i.e. food _not_ involving apples) after his second plate-full, but he was feeling pretty ravenous, so wasn't really in any position to complain. Two more plates and a very-sneakily-passed-down glass of apple cider later, he was quite sated, and the brunch was finally over.

"Ughhh…" Twilight groaned. "I definitely ate too much…" Eddie winced in sympathy at that, as they walked back up the dirt road towards town. He was a bit uncomfortable full, himself, but not nearly as much as Twilight. She could only sneak a _fraction_ of all that food below the table, after all, and with Spike's size and age, he wasn't very helpful in eating all the REST of it (she didn't even want to THINK about dealing with dragon-vomit right now).

Trying to take her mind off her stomach, Eddie decided to ask a question. "Hey Twilight, are most ponies as… _eccentric_" he chose that word carefully "… as the ones we've met so far?".

Fighting off her raging stomach ache, she turned her head ponderously toward him (not that there was much point in doing so, given his current state), not even having to think about it. "No. The ponies back home are a lot milder, if a bit arrogant at times. This town's just been weird so far." she answered as they entered the town-proper, lowering her voice accordingly. "But then again, it might still be normal; we've only met one individual pony and a close-knit family of ponies, after all – hardly a decent representative sample of the settlement as a whole." she finished, seeming both self-assured and hopeful.

Even as she spoke, Eddie thought he could hear a faint whistling sound… maybe even a voice? It suddenly became much clearer, causing him to look up sharply. All he saw was a light blue blur hurtling down towards them. Instinctively, he grabbed Twilight's shoulder and attempted to dive away with her in tow, just as a somewhat scratchy voice cried, "Look out below!". Unfortunately, Twilight was heavier than expected, so his grip on her was lost as he succeeded only in flinging himself out of the way.

Twilight, startled by the sudden cry and the jostling Eddie gave her, looked up as the blur crashed directly into her. The jumble of blue and purple pony limbs skipped across the ground a couple times before splashing into a large mud puddle. Both ponies were covered in the stuff (though Twilight seemed to have the worse of it), but seemed to be unharmed, Eddie noted with relief as he was getting up from the ground and grumbling at his own stupidity. 'Idiot!' he berated himself angrily. 'This may be a new world, but these ponies are still equines; of COURSE they would be denser and heavier than their small size suggests!' He walked back towards the two, careful not to get too close to the mud, despite his desire to check on Twilight.

Meanwhile, the now-revealed-to-be cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane (Eddie couldn't help but admire the combination. It made him think of a picture-perfect day with blue skies and, well, a rainbow. 'Pretty cool.') untangled itself from the mess of limbs as she giggled, trying to apologize.

"Ha, sorry about that." she said in the same scratchy voice from before. "Guess I got a little carried away in my practicing. Here, let me get you cleaned up." And then she zipped away almost as fast as that pink pony did, though she quickly returned… with a cloud. 'Huh.' Eddie thought. 'Well, Twilight DID say that pegasi took care of the weather. Suppose that's one way to go about it.'

Carefully positioning it right above Twilight, the cyan pegasus gave it a solid kick, making it _pour_ for just a few moments on her. Once the water stopped, Twilight WAS clean, but… she did NOT look happy, cold and dripping-wet as she was. The pegasus put a hoof to her mouth, trying to hold back even more giggles.

"Haha, woops. Uh, sorry, sorry." she apologized again, not sounding penitent at all; that might have been because of the continued snorts of laughter it was obvious that she was trying to keep down. "Don't worry, I've got this."

Now she started to fly in circles around Twilight, quickly speeding up until she had created a miniature twister focused on her. 'Now THAT'S impressive.' Eddie thought. After several seconds, the twister dispersed to reveal an admittedly dry Twilight… sporting the most ridiculously frizzy hairdo Eddie had ever seen. His lips twitched into a smirk as he forced himself not to laugh; she looked pretty darn funny.

The rainbow-maned pegasus was much less reserved. "AHAHAHAHAHAH!" She was literally rolling on the ground laughing, Spike joining her there for good measure. Twilight just glared at the two.

"And _you_ are?" she asked in a supremely controlled, irritated tone of voice. It took a little bit for the pegasus's laughter to die down enough for her to talk, but eventually she responded; and with a cocky grin, no less.

"The name's Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier in Equestria and future member of the Wonderbolts." she said, her tone matching her grin.

"Hey!" Spike exclaimed as he picked himself up. "I know that name!"

If possible, the scratchy-voiced pegasus's expression became even more self-satisfied than before. "Ahh." she said, nodding sagely. "I see my reputation prees— preck—… has spread far. As I expected."

Spike looked at her in confusion. "Um, what?" he asked. "I just remembered that somepony named Rainbow Dash is supposed to clear the sky for the Celebration."

Rainbow Dash's face fell as fast as she did as she hit the ground, hard.

'…A pratfall.' Eddie thought with an invisible, deadpan expression. 'Pratfalls and puppy-dog eyes. This place really IS like a cartoon world…' He sighed quietly. 'I'm not completely sure whether I like that idea or not…Well, I do like cartoons, so I'll go with liking it for now.'

Recovering herself, Rainbow Dash waved dismissively at what Spike had said. "Ahem. Oh, don't worry about that. I'll clear the skies as soon as I get my latest move down. It's gotta be perfect for it to be worthy of a future Wonderbolt." she said, her confident grin back in place.

Twilight, still irritated with the pegasus, scoffed. "You, a Wonderbolt? They're the best fliers in all of Equestria; so good that they're stationed in the capital and called on by Princess Celestia, herself, if she ever needs air support. If you can't even clear the sky properly and on time, what makes you think you could join their ranks?" Twilight asked with a bit of a smirk.

Eddie raised an eyebrow. 'That was kind of harsh… Oh, wait… Ha, clever, very clever. At least I _hope_ she's being clever. In any case, that was still a bit harsh.' he thought to himself.

Meanwhile Rainbow Dash's face heated up. "Hey!" she exclaimed angrily. I am SO Wonderbolts-material! This sky is nothing. I could clear it up on ten seconds flat!"

Twilight stared at her challengingly, her smirk still in place, and said just two words:

"Prove it."

The cocky pegasus almost growled as she rose to the bait. "Watch me."

What followed was one of the most impressive displays of speed, agility, and acrobatics that the three had ever seen. Truly, in ten seconds flat, the (now somewhat justifiably) confident pegasus managed to clear the sky over all of Ponyville with a series of kicks, tumbles, and tackles. Twilight and Spike were gobsmacked, their jaws hanging open in shock, and Eddie couldn't help but let out a soft "Wow.", immediately slapping a hand to his mouth and looking to see if Rainbow Dash had heard him. Thankfully, she was still slowly gliding back down to the ground, and seemed to think Spike was the one that spoke, judging by the triumphant grin she partly directed towards him.

"Thank you, thank you. You're a great crowd." she said jokingly. Turning to Twilight, her smirk returned. "What did I tell ya? Ten. Seconds. Flat." she finished, crossing her arms in front of her.

Twilight tried to respond, but only managed to open and close her mouth a few times, making herself look like a gaping fish as she tried and failed to think of something to say.

Unexpectedly enough, considering her overall previous attitude and recent victory (not to mention Twilight's taunt), Rainbow Dash only chuckled lightly at the sight, offering a kind smile.

"We should hang out some time." she said with sincerity. Her grin returned. "I'd love to make you make that face again. Well, I gotta go. See ya." And she flew off.

The coast finally clear, Eddie let out a loud breath. "Hoo! That was too close. Gotta be more careful." He turned to Twilight with a slightly mischievous expression. "So, you were saying something about this town still possibly being normal?" he commented.

Missing his expression , but not his tone, Twilight pouted as she responded without any real conviction, under her breath. "Still not big enough to be a representative sample…" As Eddie laughed at that, she let out a sigh and said heavily, "This is going to be a LONG day.". Spike just patted her on the shoulder, figuring that she was probably right.

Several minutes later, they made it to the large building in the town square which would be hosting the Summer Sun Celebration's main events and festivities the next day. Though the outside was decorated and designed quite nicely, the inside was much more impressive. Still, Eddie and Twilight were surprised when even Spike couldn't help but comment on the beauty of the place. Twilight just agreed with him, secretly happy at this sign of him possibly growing out of the "anti-filly-frou-frou" phase he had started in recent months.

Unfortunately, Twilight's hope was quickly dashed when Spike corrected her.

"Who cares about the decorations?" he asked flippantly. "I was talking about… HER…" He said that with a dreamy sigh, pointing at a white unicorn across the room as hearts floated out of his head.

Rolling his eyes at the love-struck lizard, Eddie crushed the impulse to question this newest cartoony cliché, and experimentally poked one of the hearts with an invisible finger. Said heart popped prematurely and coated the finger with some red, warm-and-gooey liquid. It disappeared into nothingness before he could even start worrying about somebody seeing the floating red appendage sitting in the air, he was glad to note. 'I think I'm starting to get numb to this stuff.' he thought to himself.

Twilight turned to look where Spike had pointed, and saw the unicorn that had immediately captivated him. She was almost blindingly white, with a perfectly coifed and groomed purple mane and tail, and seemed to be arranging yet more of the beautiful decorations around the large room. Assuming that she was the one in charge of all of this, Twilight walked up to her, eager to get the next part of her inspection out of the way with as little drama as possible.

"Wait just a moment…" the white unicorn said without turning at Twilight's throat-clearing. "Aaaand, there! Lovely. Now, how can I help you-oo-AAGH!" She had just put the finishing touches on her last arrangement, before she went on to shatter yet another of Twilight's hopes for the day when she turned around to look at her.

"_Darling_, what in _Equestria_ happened to your _mane_? No wait! Don't tell me; I'm not sure my heart could take it… In any case, you're coming with me to my shop right this instant. I just can't let such a travesty go on any longer." Practically dragging Twilight along behind her, the unicorn rushed out of the town hall and into the town, Eddie doing his best to keep up and in contact with his magical lavender ally.

Quickly falling behind, he found himself having to maneuver through the crowd as it closed behind his quarries. For what seemed to him like the umpteenth time that day, he found himself dodging and dancing ridiculously to avoid blowing his cover by rudely bumping into someone, and at this point even he couldn't help but find it amusing. As he rushed to get past the throng of equines, he finally screwed up and slammed into a blonde-maned, grey coated pegasus as it was turning to the side.

"Woah!" she cried, spinning around crazily before falling to the ground. Eddie automatically stopped to apologize, completely forgetting about his need to be quiet and remain undetected.

"Sorry, sorry!" he said in a rush. "Are you okay?"

The mare seemed to look at him— though her noticeably-crossed eyes made it a bit hard to tell— and gave a goofy grin.

"Sure! Nothin' to worry about. Want a muffin?" she asked, pulling the pastry out of nowhere and offering it up as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Um, no thanks?" he replied uncertainly.

Suddenly Eddie felt the now-familiar tingle of magic around his body, reminding him of the spell's range limitation, and immediately rushed back after Twilight and her "friend" in a panic, terrified that his fears would be realized so soon.

"Sorry," he yelled over his shoulder, "but I have to go!".

It took him a couple of moments to realize that he had just had a virtual conversation with the grey mare, and she seemed to be able to see him. Looking around as he ran, he saw a few ponies looking around, apparently trying to find the source of his yells, while some were staring after the cross-eyed pegasus and shaking their heads as she flew dizzily away. None of them seemed freaked out enough for him to think that the spell had failed for a moment and exposed him to everyone, though.

Glancing back as best he could during his rush, he watched the mare fade into the distance, wondering if the incident was just another everyday possibility in this world, or something a bit more random and mysterious.

'I'll have to ask Twilight about seeing through an invisibility spell sometime.' he thought to himself, inexplicably unworried at the prospect of the muffin-toting stranger telling others about him. 'Ah, well.'

* * *

Catching up to Twilight at last, just as her captor apparently reached her destination, Eddie was relieved to feel the tingling sensation of destabilizing magic go away, with him none the worse for (other than a pounding heart). He saw the three creatures enter the door of a large, eccentric building that looked like nothing but an old-fashioned, but beautiful carousel, like one might find in a particularly well-liked and -funded public park or carnival back in his own world. As he quietly slipped through the door before it closed, he was almost surprised that the interior didn't sync up with the carousel theme, even if it was quite colorful and bright. There were clothes _everywhere_ (which seemed extremely odd, since he had seen very little in the way of clothing on anypony thus far), in all different styles and materials. Some were pretty gaudy, in Eddie's eyes, but most of them looked like they would be be very fashionable. Or at least, he _thought_ they would be fashionable, given that they were designed and made to be worn by often-pastel colored, talking pony derivatives... 'I'm really in over my head, here.' Eddie thought.

While Eddie was occupied by his musings, the white unicorn wasted no time with Twilight, ushering her up onto a small podium with mirrors set up around it in a semi-circle. As she did so, she started talking at a rapid-fire pace.

"My dear mare," she gushed. "I don't know _what_ it is that made you look like... this," her face contorted to express her distaste at Twilight's current state, "but don't worry. I'll have you fixed up better than ever in no time at all!"

"Agh!" she suddenly exclaimed. "How _terribly_ rude of me! I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Rarity, and I am the owner of this wondrous little boutique, here. So, _obviously_, you can rest assured that all you fashion needs are in good hooves. Now, tell me about yourself, darling. What do you do? Where are you from?" she continued, her horn having started to glow and cause a number of grooming and clothing to rise up, surrounded by the same light, and go to work.

As Twilight tried to catch up with that was being said and happening, the dreaded implements started in on her by picking at her mane. Even when she felt her head being lightly yanked one way after another, making her unconsciously try to pull away from them, they continued on mercilessly. In a thankfully short amount of time, though, her mane had been put done up perfectly; it was clean, shiny, neat, and smelling of lavender. She didn't have time to come to appreciate this, though, as a new set of thing floated forward to accomplish _their_ purposes. This time, it was mostly measuring tapes that approached, and they proceeded to measure her every which way, seemingly taking the same dimensions over and over as a lone brush and a few sprays touched up her coat, putting every hair back in place whenever they were ruffled by the activity of measuring tapes.

As Eddie came out of his reverie, he watched in fascination as all of this was done to Twilight, though he did feel sorry for the poor mare.

When the tape measures, sprays, and brushes let up on her, Twilight briefly enjoyed a brief moment of respite, only for it to be shattered by the glowing arrival of seemingly dozens of outfits. Article after article of clothing rushed up and magically situated itself on her as it would be worn. Just as with the clothes Eddie saw on the racks when he entered the shop, some of the outfits looked quite good (a few suiting Twilight quite nicely, as far as he could judge), while others were... a bit over-the-top.

Dazedly regaining enough of her senses to remember that she had been asked a question, Twilight found herself automatically answering.

"Uh, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I was sent from Canterlot to check on—" Twilight was cut off by an excited gasp.

"CANTERLOT!?" Rarity exclaimed. "The illustrious capital of Equestria, but much more importantly, of _fashion_ and _culture_! _Ohh_, the _glamor_, the _refinement_!" Rarity swooned, obviously caught up in her own little world.

"You simply MUST tell me all about it!" She suddenly implored. "I just know that we're going to be the _best_ of _friends_."

Twilight twitched.

Going through another abrupt shift, Rarity scowled.

"Emeralds! What _was_ I thinking? What you need are some **RUBIES**!" she squealed, rushing off to the gems.

As soon as Rarity was out of sight, Twilight threw off the outfit— undoing the excessively fancy hairdo in the process —and snatched up Spike (who was staring after Rarity), yelling, "Come on! We're getting out of here before that crazy mare decided to dye my coat a new color!"

Eddie snickered.

* * *

Having escaped the "evil beauty shop," the three voiced their thoughts on the whole incident.

"Ugh, that was a nightmare." Twilight grumbled.

"What are you talking about, Twilight?" Spike asked, letting out a blissful sigh. "She made that whole place seem like a _dream_..."

Eddie laughed. "You two are so excitable. But you've got to admit, Twilight, as overenthusiastic as she may have been (just like every OTHER pony we've met so far), she did a really good job on you. It may not mean anything coming from an alien creature, from an alien culture, but I actually think a lot of those outfits looked good on you. And the way she made you mane so lustrous and smooth (ignoring that elaborate coiffing she did to it); I bet nopony could deny that you look great." he finished with a grin.

Twilight couldn't think of what to say to that, and not only because she knew objectively that Rarity HAD done a good job. No, it was mostly her repressed, burning curiosity for the human that occupied her mind to much to think of a response. _Would_ his alien nature make his evaluations of beauty (favorable or otherwise) in ponies, including herself, invalid? Did the smile she could practically hear in his voice indicate sincerity and positive regard, or that he was joking around in some way. Hay, she still didn't even know how accurate her apparent recognition of his facial expressions, tones of voice, body language were. More than anything, though, she couldn't figure out why she so wanted it to turn out that his judgements _were_ valid, and that he _was_ being sincere and thinking well of her. After all, she had never cared much about what anypony (other than Princess Celestia) thought of her, before, so why now; why him?! It was driving her NUTS! She had a world to save (and studies to pursue), and she didn't need these kinds of distractions in her life!

After a moment of internal struggle, Twilight just let out a loud sigh, making Eddie frown, thinking he might have said something wrong. He looked down at the ground as they walked along, deciding to stay silent for a while to avoid upsetting Twilight further, however it happened.

* * *

The three walked in silence for a while, each for their own reasons. Twilight was brooding, for once _not_ about the impending end-of-the-world scenario. Eddie was contemplating Twilight's silence, and how seemed to have caused it, worrying that it was a sign that he may never be able to get along with the creatures of this world. And Spike... was being Spike, still mooning over "the lovely Miss Rarity" as he allowed himself to fall asleep on Twilight's back.

Eddie and Twilight were shaken free of themselves, though, when they came within earshot of a rather lovely melody. It was sweet, soft, and simple, and was punctuated by birdsong. When they rounded a bend in the road, they found the source of the wordless singing: a butter-yellow pegasus with a light pink mane. Stopping before they could interrupt, the two watched her be the maestro for a group of songbirds in the small tree in front of her, just listening to the tune.

Eddie winced when one of the birds started singing noticeably off-key, and the sweet-sounding pegasus paused her performance to address it.

"Okay everyone," she said in a soft, quiet voice that conveyed more gentleness than seemed possible, "you're all doing a _wonderful_ job. But, um, Mr. Robin, you were just the _teensiest_ bit off in this last piece. Do you think you can hold back and listen to the others to get your bearings back? If that's okay with you, I mean..." The last part she said in an even lower, quieter tone of voice, with her head down and the confidence that had shone through in her singing gone. The bird didn't seem to mind, though, giving an agreeable nod and bowing slightly (which surprised Eddie greatly; just _how many_ species were intelligent in this world?!).

Figuring that this mare was most likely the musical arranger for the celebration, the last pony she had to talk to, Twilight threw all the energy she was using to brood behind her greeting to her, hoping to finally get this part of her mission over with so she could get back to saving the world. She took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

"Hi!" Twilight exclaimed, making the yellow pegasus "Eep!" in surprise. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, what's yours?"

Recovering, the unknown mare's eyes shifted nervously, before she looked down and to the side shyly, making her mane fall to cover most of her face.

"Um, m nms Flttrsh..." she mumbled quietly. "Twilight and Eddie leaned forward to hear her better, though Eddie also took a stealthy step forward to get a closer look at the adorable creature.

"I'm sorry?" Twilight asked with an increasingly strained smile. Why couldn't anything just be simple?

The nervous pegasus took a step back and said, "Mnms Fltrsh..." trailing off even more quietly than before. Twilight's face tightened, thought the indistinctly named mare ('Was it... "Fluttershy"?' Eddie wondered) didn't notice, thankfully, as she seemed so timid that she might run away at the slightest sign of displeasure from anypony.

Twilight mentally took a deep breath and tried on last time. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." The yellow mystery mare took three more steps back and made a completely incomprehensible series of noises so high-pitched that it actually hurt Twilight's ears a bit, and made Spike start to stir.

A silence followed, wherein Twilight struggled to keep her temper (which had been aggravated all day) in check, Eddie struggled not to make any sound (such as an exclamation of "Awww..."), and Spike tried to fall back asleep so he could return to his dream of a picnic with Rarity. This "Fluttershy", meanwhile, just continued to stare at the ground with her shoulders hunched, as if she were afraid of being struck. Eddie felt sorry for the poor thing.

"Oookay..." Twilight finally said. "Well, thank you for your time; I'm sure you have everything well in hoof. I'll just be going now..." And she turned to walk away, revealing Spike's presence to the still-silent mare.

As soon as Fluttershy glanced up and saw him, though, her entire demeanor changed, and she charged after Twilight.

"Is that a baby dragon?!" she asked eagerly, though her voice was just as breathy, and only a little louder than before.

Spike yawned, brought fully awake now, and responded with, "Yep. The name's Spike. How are ya?"

Fluttershy released a minute squeal of joy before she answered. "Oh, it's _wonderful_ to meet you, Spike. And I'm doing fine; thank you for asking. Ohh... there are so many things I want to ask about you..."

As Twilight and Eddie gaped at the exchange between Spike and the suddenly-talkative mare, Spike was confused (though also quite pleased) at the interest directed toward him.

"Well, what do you wanna know?" he asked, puffing his chest out.

"_Everything_."

Spike grinned.

* * *

Eddie had never been shunted between horrendous boredom and slight interest so often in his life. For the last two and a half hours, Spike recounted his entire life story in _excruciating_ detail to an attentive Fluttershy, as the four slowly made their way toward the town library. Eddie couldn't understand how a _baby_ dragon could have so much to say about his relatively short life, but he did, managing to "finish" his story just as they walked up to the library door.

Twilight turned around, relief plain on her face.

"Well," she said, "it's been great... talking with you, but it's late and poor little Spike, here, is just about tuckered out." Twilight somehow managed to _subtly_ buck Spike a bit when he started to protest. "So I think we'll turn in for the night."

Twilight opened the door and slipped through the dark doorway after feeling the breeze of Eddie's passing, then tried to close the door. However, Fluttershy held it open for a few moments as she truly spoke to Twilight for the first time.

"Oh, um, really?" she asked, softly as ever. "Are you sure he didn't overexert himself? I could take a look at him if you want..."

"No, no! No, he's perfectly just needs some sleep, is all. Good night!" Twilight slammed the door in the concerned Fluttershy's face, and Eddie couldn't help but want to smack her upside the head for being so rude to the kind pony, even if Twilight _was_ tired and frustrated.

"Well, THAT was something." Spike grumbled, still irked over being treated like a baby and used as an excuse all at once. Twilight released a huge sigh of mixed relief and irritation.

"Ugh!" she complained, "This place... it's like I can't take five steps without some _crazy_ pony trying to become friends with me. All I want is to save the kingdom and have everything go back to the way it was..."

Eddie moved carefully through the darkness and placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "well, it's over for now." he began. "Let's just go get some sleep; I'm sure you'll feel much better in the morning."

Twilight let out one last sigh, but nodded her acquiescence before turning on the lights.

"**SURPRISE!**"

A hundred ponies and a hundred voices jumped out at them. The large, circular room was decorated in the manner of a birthday party (though it struck Eddie as aiming more toward young children), with a big banner proclaiming "Welcome to Ponyville, New Pony, Baby Dragon, and Mr. Not-There!". That last part made Eddie turn white as a ghost, even if the normal smiles on all the ponies' faces seemed to indicate that he was okay (and that all of them somehow hadn't heard anything he and Twilight has said in the dark).

The pink pony from when they first arrived popped up in front of the crowd, standing on her hind legs and throwing her front ones in the air as she screamed "Welcome to Ponyville! Are you surprised? Huh? Are ya, are ya, are ya?!"

She started bouncing up and down in her excitement and eagerness. "Ooo! And where's Mr. Not-There? I wanna know how he likes the party!That silly-billy should know that I can't know that I did a good job unless he shows up to tell me!" Some of the other ponies looked at her oddly, including the other four notable ones Twilight and company had met ('How did Fluttershy get in so fast' Eddie wondered distractedly between bouts of panic over the pink pony's seeming awareness of his existence, if not his precise location), but they all quickly shrugged as if used to her saying similarly strange things.

The only reason Twilight didn't immediately scream at what would have otherwise been the straw that broke the camel's back (if any camels would forgive the expression) was her _own_ apprehension over the pink pony's words.

"I... don't know what you're talking about." Twilight said, poorly hiding her nervousness as her gaze shifted all around. Seeing the pink earth pony open her mouth, she rushed to distract her.

"Wh-what a great party you set up! And on such short notice, too; very impressive! Won't you show me to the snack table? I'm actually kind of thirsty, to be honest. Got any punch, Miss..." Twilight babbled.

The strange earth pony gasped. "Oh my! I never told you my name! Gosh, the excitement must have gotten to me! But can you blame me? I mean, what's more exciting than a new pony coming to town?! And with a baby dragon and a not-there pony, to boot! Ohhh, the anticipation is killing me!" she said, talking at a mile a minute and hopping up and down faster than gravity should have allowed to show her curiosity-wrought enthusiasm.

"Iiii'm Pinkie Pie!" she said, suddenly right up in Twilight's face with a huge grin. Twilight took a couple steps back to regain her personal space.

"Uhhh... Twilight." the increasingly uncomfortable unicorn replied. "And this is my assistant, Spike." With that, Twilight walked herself toward the snack table with her brows drawn down, her discomfort turning to irritation once more as Pinkie Pie followed, babbling away. Without looking, Twilight poured herself a goblet of what she assumed was punch, and downed the whole thing.

After a few inexplicably pregnant moments, Twilight turned back around to face Pinkie Pie, with a red face and watering eyes (worrying Eddie and making him move toward her), and proceeded to leap into the air as her mane and tail turned to flame (causing Eddie to leap back in fright, almost bumping into Pinkie Pie and the other four).

Falling back to earth, she instantly rushed off to the back of the tree... house... library... thing, closing the door to a back room behind her.

"Awww..." Pinkie Pie cooed. "She was so happy about the party that she started crying!" Eddie stared at her in disbelief, and her left eyebrow twitched as she looked around in confusion. Shaking his head, the lone human carefully made his way through the throng of partying ponies, not thinking twice as he exchanged a brief wave with a familiar grey-coated pegasus, and slipped through the small door Twilight had escaped through.

He came in just as she reached the bed a level above where he stood, her muzzle still wet from the water she had guzzled to relieve the burn of her unintentionally spicy beverage. She threw herself on the bed, face down on the pillow with her shoulders slumped. Eddie had done that same thing so often when he was feeling overwhelmed that he decided then and there to no longer quibble and worry over misinterpreting pony body language.

Moving forward, Eddie climbed the inconveniently small ladder (which creaked dangerously, alerting Twilight to his presence) and walked to the bed. Sitting down on the mattress gently, he was silent for several moments.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked, as softly as he could. He knew it was a stupid question, but he also knew that Twilight desperately needed someone to talk to; even if that someone was an almost total stranger of an unknown species. Her only other option was Spike, and he was young, skeptical, and practically her child. She couldn't _unload_ on him like she could with another grown being.

She didn't respond immediately. She just laid there, with her face buried in the softness of her new pillow. Finally, she lifted up her head, flipping herself over to stare at the ceiling. Her expression was blank.

"No." Twilight said, and the weariness in that one word was almost startling. "I'm not okay. I just... I don't know what to DO! Equestria is counting on me, and they don't even know it! Not even Princess Celestia and Spike believe me! Everypony I meet is trying to become my friend, when all I want is to be left alone! And to top it all off, I have to foalsit some alien creature that doesn't know left from right!"

She froze. Why did she say that? Even if it _was_ one more thing to deal with, she didn't really mind it. Honestly, Eddie had made things a bit easier several times, now. Was she really so stressed that she couldn't help but lash out at everything that was even partially bothering her? She was afraid. Afraid of what he would say or do after hearing her say that about him right to his face. Even more than that, she was afraid she might lose the closest thing she had to a—

Eddie cut off her frantic internal self-questioning and -chastisement when she felt him shift on the bed. He moved around until he was sitting right next to Twilight, though he was careful not to sit too close. She was afraid he might hit her, but instead he gently placed a hand on her head, moving it back and forth in a slight petting motion.

"I'm sorry, Twilight."

That was just to much for her. Ripped away from his home, forced to hide from everypony just to stay safe and make her mission easier, and bound up in a dangerous quest to save the alien world he still barely knew, with a mare who just screamed about how his existence only made her life harder, and _he said he was sorry_.

Twilight's eyes welled.

He was _sorry_, when he had lost everything, and gained nothing.

Tears began to roll down her face.

He was _sorry_, when all he had done was try to help her, and make her feel better.

Her lips trembled. She was so upset that the spell she put on him fell apart, revealing him to her watery vision, his eyes showing as much care and sorrow as his actions and words.

...

The dam broke, and suddenly Twilight was sobbing, her head buried in his chest, soaking his sweatshirt through as she weakly beat against it with one hoof, while the other wrapped around behind his back tightly.

Eddie was surprised by her sudden lunge, but quickly adjusted as he hugged her to him with one arm, while he continued to stroke her head and mane soothingly. Pony or human, sometime you just need to be held, to feel the gentle touch of someone who cares.

As he whispered comforting words in her ear, he considered the miserable unicorn in his arms.

'Poor thing...' he thought. 'No one should have to deal with all that pressure. She must feel so scared and alone, taking all this responsibility solely upon herself...'

Twilight continued sobbing for a full fifteen minutes before it started to subside.

"There you go." Eddie said encouragingly. "I told you before that I thought you could do this, and that hasn't changed. You have power, knowledge, and conviction; not many can claim to have so much when they set out to do something so important." That evoked a watery smile from her.

Twilight released a self-deprecating chuckle. "How is it that you're the one always making _me_ feel better? With your story, I was expecting to have to drag you out of a funk constantly, but the only pony that seems to be having trouble is _me_… How do you do it?"

Eddie smiled distantly. "Let's just say that I… don't live for myself." Now wasn't the time to get into his emotional baggage; and if he had his way, it would _never_ be. What _was_ important, was helping Twilight. "Now," he said, his voice soft and soothing once again, "let's set all that aside for the moment. Just, rest…"

Twilight wanted to pursue the question, if only because it was so obviously avoided, but as his fingers continued to gently massage her scalp, she drifted right to sleep, her head nestled in his lap.

Looking down at her peaceful face, Eddie smiled to himself; a much larger, more heartfelt smile. "You really are a cute little thing, when you're not driving yourself crazy." he mused to her sleeping form. She just snuggled closer, unconsciously seeking more warmth as she let out a contented sigh.

Eddie carefully maneuvered himself around so his back was up against the headboard, slowly pulling the blanket from underneath him and draping it over all of Twilight's body but her head, as she continued sleeping in his lap. Now comfortable, he closed his eyes and drifted off, his fingers unconsciously persisting in their movements.

* * *

A couple hours later, Eddie was woken up by the squeak of a door and a sudden stream of light. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked to the source of the disturbance, seeing Spike wobble into the room through the doorway (through which sounds of the party could still be heard) with a lampshade on his head. Eddie quirked an eyebrow.

Spike lifted up his impromptu hat and began to say something, until he heard somepony shush him. Looking up, he saw Eddie, no longer concealed by the invisibility spell, with a finger on his lips. More surprising was the sight of Twilight, sound asleep, with her head in Eddie's lap and a small smile on her face.

Spike grinned, glad that she was able to calm down and get some rest, even if he _had_ been hoping to get her to come down to the party and try again at making some friends. Grabbing a sheet of parchment and a quill from a nearby desk, he wrote a quick note for Eddie to read, folded it into a paper airplane, and lightly tossed it to him.

Catching it, Eddie awkwardly managed to unfold and read it with one hand. It read, 'Was gonna get he to come to party, but never mind. SSC in a few hours, so rest up. I'll wake you when it's time. P.S. Thanks.'. Eddie gave Spike a silent thumbs-up in acknowledgement, which he returned confusedly, and settled his head back against the wall to sleep once more.

However, as Spike left the room, closing the door behind him, Eddie found that he couldn't immediately go back to his rest. Now that he was awake and not chasing or talking with anyone, he found himself thinking.

'What am I doing here?' he wondered. 'I'm certainly no hero, but here I am on a quest to save the planet from eternal darkness. Ha, man, the way that sounds… Still, maybe I can be something like a hero, or at least an actively better person, here. New world, new self; the freshest start imaginable. I can't change who I am, but I can change what I do… And with me being a world with a new culture that probably won't accept me, I can be as good as I want, without having anything to lose when people come to see me as strange and start to shun me even more. I'll have to see where things take me, I suppose. I'll just help the one who helped me, and then… well, I guess that I'll just have to figure out to live on my own in the forest, or something. Maybe Twilight will let me borrow a wilderness survival book, or something. Thank goodness I landed in a world with the same oral and written language as mine.'

Eddie sighed, settling down to wait the few remaining hours until the Summer Sun Celebration would begin.

An hour later, as Eddie was staring at the ceiling in thought, Twilight began to stir. Murmuring incomprehensibly, she lifted her head to look up at the face of her makeshift pillow with bleary eyes. When Eddie saw those eyes finally widen comically in realization that a strange creature was in her bed, he couldn't help but grin and have a bit of fun.

"Well," he began, "it looks like sleeping beauty's finally awake. Did you have a good nap?"

Twilight flung herself back with a cry, unconsciously picking Eddie up and throwing him in the opposite direction with her magic.

"GAH!" Eddie squawked. Impacting a wall with a wince, he sank to the floor, groaning at the pain of having his already-complaining joints (from sleeping sitting up, with only the hard headboard to lean against) treated so roughly.

Realizing at last WHO the thing was, and remembering what happened hours earlier, Twilight was mortified. Despite her face turning red at her hasty action (and the fact that she fell asleep in Eddie's lap), she rushed over to make sure he was unhurt.

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear! I am SOOO sorry! I just forgot things for a second and you surprised me and—" she babbled on, ineffectually trying to look him over from every angle.

Eddie chuckled at the whole situation, amused at how much it resembled a standard scene in any number of TV shows he had seen before. Guy teases/surprises girl. Girl overreacts. Guy is disproportionally, and often painfully, punished for teasing/surprising girl.  
Wouldn't stop him from doing it, though.

"Looks like sleeping beauty packs a punch." he said with a weak smile. "I'll have to remember that magic isn't all invisibility spells and holding stuff without fingers."

Twilight wasn't sure if she should be irritated or flattered at the nickname, but was distracted by concern as Eddie got up off of the ground with another wince. Seeing her expression, he waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about me." he assured her. "Nothing broken, no problem."

Before Twilight could argue, Spike came into the room. Seeing the two, he exclaimed "Good, you're awake! Come on, it's almost time for the celebration. We need to get to town hall, pronto!" Rolling her eyes when Eddie stuck his tongue out at her in victory, she recast the invisibility spell on him without warning, gaining no small satisfaction from his startled yelp.

'I'll never get used to how that feels.' Eddie thought to himself, slumping a bit and rubbing his newly sore and bruised body now that Twilight couldn't see him do it.

"Well, let's get going, then." Twilight said, still wearing a triumphant smirk. It quickly faded, though, as she recalled what was going to happen in the next hour or two. Feeling an invisible hand on her side, she ignored for the moment that it was part of the arrangement for Eddie's invisibility,and took what strength and reassurance she could from the contact. At least she had two ponies who would help her. Girding herself, she walked through the doorway, making her way out of the library with the other party guests.

The walk to Town Hall was short— only a few minutes, really —but it felt like it took forever to Eddie and Twilight. This was the moment of truth; what may be the beginning of eternal night. And Twilight still didn't know how to stop it. Spike was apparently oblivious, idly humming a little tune to himself as he bounced along on Twilight's back, and the two older creatures actually thought at the same moment that they almost envied the little dragon.

Arriving at the lavishly decorated public-use building, they approached the large double doors with some trepidation. After a moment, Twilight took a deep breath and pushed her way inside with her human companion in tow.

The place was packed, ponies from all over having come to see the Princess start off the longest day of the year. Twilight nervously milled about in the crowd, not acknowledging the presence or greetings of any of the ponies she had met that day. In fact, all she really did was pace as her eyes flicked everywhere, jumping slightly every time somepony bumped into her.

Meanwhile, Eddie was faring little better, though for different he was indeed apprehensive about what Twilight had predicted was going to happen, he was dealing with a more familiar problem...

'I. Hate. Crowds.' he thought to himself humorlessly as he was once again forced to dodge and weave ridiculously to avoid touching anyone in the throng of sociable equines, wincing in pain with every sudden movement as his slightly battered body was jerked about.

Staying near Twilight as best he could, Eddie slowly guided her toward the refreshment table. He was thirsty, and figured that they could both use a little food in their stomachs before everything began. Twilight absently followed his gentle pushes, nibbling and sipping at this and that in a distracted manner. Eddie just slipped under the table and swiped a few things from above, thankful that he didn't have enough pride for doing so to bother him.

Sooner than either of them would have liked, the chatter started to die down and all of the other ponies gathered in a semi-circle around the central balcony above.

A light brown mare with a fray mane and tail and a tied scroll for a cutie mark stepped out from the crowd and began a short speech. Doing her utmost to excite the crowd (and being quite excited, herself), she ended it off with a few succinct accolades.

"And now," she started, "I present to you, the beautiful, the powerful, the wise... PRINCESS CELESTIA!" The assembly of ponies vigorously stomped their hooves on the floor in some semblance of applause to welcome their ruler and goddess as the curtain was pulled open.

Once it _was_ opened, however, the crowd let out a collective gasp at seeing the balcony behind the white pony from before ('...Rarity?' Eddie absently recalled) unoccupied. Whispers quickly began to break out, but were quickly interrupted by a boisterous voice.

"Ooo, ooo! Are we playing hide and seek?!" the pink mare Eddie and Twilight recognized incredulously as Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "'Cause if we are, this is gonna be the best Summer Sun Celebration EVER!"

The pink pony that had become the center of attention suddenly adopted a more serious expression, stroking her chin with a hoof in thought.

"Hmmm..." she breathed contemplatively. "She'll be tough to beat. Wing and magic always make ponies harder find and catch, and she has BOTH... and it'll take me forever to get to the sun if she decides to hide there..." Lifting a hoof to stroke her chin, she closed her eyes and looked down, deep in though. Then, her eyes snapped open as a Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face.

"This. Will. Be. AWESOME!"

Ringing silence was the only response she got to her declaration as everyone stared at her. After a moment or two, the weight of those stares (and of the situation at hoof) seemed to break through to her, making her shrink in on herself and fade back into the anonymity of the crowd. With Eddie's sense of curiosity being so overextended, he barely managed to raise a brow at the poor pink pony, or how her mane suddenly seemed to straighten out as she made her retreat.

Suddenly, the room went cold, immediately shattering the brief almost-funny awkwardness that had settled in the building. An ill wind ghosted through the room, seemingly from nowhere, sending a chill down every creature's spine.

"No..." was Twilight's whispered plea.

"Ahahahahahaha!" an unfamiliar voice laughed from every direction at once. "I am SO happy to see my precious subjects once again." That voice seemed to exude nothing but madness and venom, keeping the assembled ponies rooted to their spots as they trembled in fear and uncertainty, even as a swirling, star-filled darkness gathered on the balcony that should have held Princess Celestia.

The thing quickly took a more terrestrial form, though that did not bring the crowd any comfort, revealing the creature's true, frightening visage. It had the appearance of an alicorn, just like their benevolent ruler, bearing both the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn (though the latter looked much longer and sharper; more vicious), and a body much like that of those below, only much larger and more slender. Its coat was black as night, while its mane and tail were the same star-strewn void that had coalesced to form the rest of its body. The cutie mark which adorned its flanks— though Eddie was loathe to connect such an innocent-sounding term to the creature before him —was that of a crescent moon shining out ominously through a dark cloud. And accentuating it all was the militaristic armor that was draped on various parts of its body, bringing its intimidation factor to new heights.

But those eyes.

Those eyes made everything else seem as nothing. Gazing into their cold, steel-blue, slitted depths, the madness and malice were so great that any who dared to look upon her felt they would be consumed.

The assembled ponies continued to cower in silence— even Twilight was shaking uncontrollably, though she stood her ground and refused to be overcome —but Eddie couldn't tear his eyes away from her own, much as his mind screamed at him to do so. His stare was so intent that the dark mare actually covertly scanned the crowd, curious at the feeling of somepony watching her being so notable when she was the center of attention of such a large number of her... subjects... However, she quickly dismissed the sensation as beneath her notice, once again addressing the crowd.

"Well?! Where is my welcome; where are your obeisances? Am I not royal enough for you?!" she demanded with a glare.

Once again, silent, fearful stares were the only responses she received.

The fearsome alicorn intensified her glare. "Do none of you know _Who I Am_?!" she asked in a dark hiss that resounded in the bones of every creature present.

She was truly getting angry, now; old anger and paranoia at being ignored and feared were being rekindled, even after a thousand years of exile. But just as she was about to lash out to punish the ponies' ignorance, a voice rang out.

"_I_ do!" Twilight cried, having regained her nerve when she saw the increasing danger of the situation. "The signs, the legends; I know you are! You're the Mare in the Moon! Nightmare Moon!" The other ponies gasped at this revelation. "And I'm here to stop you!"

Nightmare Moon grinned darkly, relishing the moment. "Well, well, well. It seems that somepony _does_ remember me." She adopted a mockingly sad tone. "Unfortunately, you're too late."

Snapping back to her dark, angry voice, she declared, "I shall rule over my subjects from here onward, and no pretty words or determination will stop me! I hope you enjoyed this day, as you will find it to be your last. For from now on, the Night, shall last, **FOREVER**! Ahahahahahaha!"


End file.
